2013 US Regional U/19 Trials A Summary of Key Learnings

The 2013 US Regional U/19 Trials

A Summary of Key Learnings

Chairman, USACA Youth Development Committee – Mr. Hemant Buch

The month of April 2013 was historical for USA youth cricket. Volunteers committed to youth cricket development in various Regions across America conducted U/19 youth trials in a fair, inclusive and very professional manner. The Selection Process was reviewed with ICC Americas development officers Mr. Andy Pick and Mr. Wendell Coppin and both of them providing input and positive feedback to the plan.

This was the first event of such a huge scale where we witnessed a burst of positive energy among organizers, players and parents. Well over 300 players participated in the 2013 Regional Under 19 trials, significantly more than ever before. I had an opportunity to talk to every Regional Coordinator and several volunteers and I am proud to say that everyone was determined to use the US U/19 trial platform to energize their youth cricket base.

The success from the trials as I see it was;

Reaching out to 95% of youth committed to cricket in their Region

Providing a platform to display player skills and provide feedback to them about how to improve their cricket

Most importantly, the Regions now have developed a plan for 2013 to keep the momentum going!!!

I am happy to report that several activities have been reported since the US Regional U/19 trials for Junior and Youth levels during summer 2013 including;

Central East Region

1) U/19 Memorial Day Champions Trophy. There will be awards.

2) Youth League (6 to 16) will start in June. They will play game amongst themselves.

South East Region

1) The Carolinas will commence a summer program in June and hope to have up to 200 players involved

2) The SE Regional U/17 Tournament will be held in September.

3)A girls’ team is being developed in the Carolinas area.

Atlantic Region

Games are being arranged for Youth in the Region play and there are plans to play against NE and NY.

New York Region

The New York Region plans to participate in the Festival in Washington on Memorial Day

North West Region

1)The NWR has developed schedule for League games against those who attended trials, which will be double round robin format.

2)CCA U/15 National invitational tournament to be staged this summer with a Canadian team likely to attend.

3)CCA U/17 team IS visiting England in August for 7 games in 10 days

South West Region

1) A Youth Program started at Woodley Park with a professional coach.

2) Hosted visiting teams from Northern California

3) Plans are in place to take a U/15 team to Washington to play the Atlantic Region.

2013 US U/19 Regional Trials - Lessons learned

It would be unwise to say that US Regional U/19 Trials were perfect and that improvement cannot be made. The USACA Youth Committee held a review meeting on May 11th and discussed the trials are areas for improvement going forward. Some of the lessons learned were;

Ground availability was an issue in some Regions;

Due to time of the year, some Regions didn’t have a great deal of time to prepare or be ‘match fit’;

The Trial format need to be consistent for all the Regions;

Some grounds were a long way apart making it hard for logistics to be arranged

The significant different in the standards of grounds and level of play in the Regions makes it difficult to directly compare players and scorecards from previous years become difficult to rely on

Regional Trials allowed much more many talented players to be seen than ever before

The National Selectors now have a great deal of data on a huge number of players that will be considered in 2014.

We Have Taken the First Step!

Since the selection of 24 players for Florida stage 2 of the trials, we have received some phone calls and emails from parents and even League officials about individual players who they believe should have been given a chance in USACA U/19 Combine.

National selectors travelled the country for the first time and visited various places to see almost 300 players. The process could not have been more objective as Selectors from outside the Region were flown in at USACA’s cost to ensure that there was objectivity.

Selectors were provided with historical data from big match performances and had a good understanding of the player groups they were going to see in action. The fact is, selection comes down to being able to perform on the day and many players took that opportunity to ‘shine’.

I thank all of the Regional Coordinators for their hard work, the USACA Youth Committee for their efforts, the US National Selectors who have worked so hard for so many months and of course our National body, USACA for their support and guidance.

Let’s wish the guys well for a successful USACA U/19 Combine starting May 31st.